Concurring Overwrite
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Choices were supposed to write the future, and they were there. But the way things had started without them, it seemed that every choice was impossible to make. For some, they were choices bent on destruction. For others, those choices could lead to salvation. And they had to come together to make that one choice that would decide all of their fates...and the future. If they can.
1. Illness

**A/N:** _Hiya everyone. :D As part of the Too Many Cooks Challenge on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges Forum, The Light's Refrain (Light) and I are working on a drabble collection each that serves as a sequel to her fic "Preceeding Overwrite". While you don't need any prior knowledge of Preceeding Overwrite (since between us we'll explain everything in due course), but to get the full experience out of these drabbles you should read Light's "Commencing Overwrite" as well. _

_The Too Many Cooks Challenge is when two people share a plot and take turns writing drabbles that are compliant with each other using prompts from their partner until one of them gets written into a corner. This means that, while neither of our drabble collections are written in a continuous manner, they both exist in the same 'verse and have a solid overarching plot. She's covering the Tamers side of things; I'm covering the Frontier side. The 01/02 digidestined are also expected to crop up – though when depends on where our drabbles take us. Each drabble is engineered to tell a little more of the story – think of it as a massive jigsaw puzzle. :D Some will be tame and cutesy, others will be quite dramatic. Whatever pops up depends on whatever prompt Light gives me and whatever my muse plans to do with it._

_Updates will be unpredictable, because we're taking turns writing drabbles. Light did the first one; this is the second. She'll do the third and so forth. So our updates depend on each other as much as they depend on ourselves this time. :D_

_"Data Fragment" as titling the drabbles is Light's idea, btw. All credit for that goes to her. :D_

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 1: Illness**

Waiting times at Shibuya had grown even longer since their adventures in the Digital World, but Koichi had collected enough experience to know to bring a book along in wait. His mother usually just dropped him off as well, but Kousei was more tentative and had insisted on coming along.

That left him trying to keep pace with his son's reading speed, an impossible feat despite the practise he got from skimming research papers every other day. But he was an adult and had learnt patience, even in a waiting room that seemed more chaotic than he had imagined. The nurse behind the counter seemed the worst off, the poor woman almost in tears as her computer refused to cooperate for the second time – or the second time Kousei had seen anyway; he had seen her reboot it once already.

It became clear a little later – thanks to some cursing from impatient patients and apologetic explanations from a senior nurse who had come to assist – that the computer problem was an ongoing one.

'About seven weeks ago, the life-support equipment was going haywire,' Koichi said suddenly, having gotten distracted from his book. His eyes had narrowed somewhat; it was his way of showing sympathy, Kousei noted, although someone less familiar would probably mistake it for something else. 'They haven't changed much since then.'

'Who hasn't?' Kousei's eyes left the desk and focused upon his son. Koichi wore a contemplative expression: not one he'd ever seen on Koji's face, but he was starting to get used to seeing it on the elder twin. Subtle differences – that he had lost nine years in seeing. And some things he shouldn't have had to see at all, like the red scar where the other had hit his head on the unforgiving ground, and the too tired eyes.

'The doctors and nurses,' Koichi replied, before adding: 'I can't imagine how it would be to work in that sort of environment, when everything's against you and all you're trying to do is save someone.' A hand came up unconsciously to shield eyes from a non-existent glare.

'Is your head hurting?' Kousei asked, concerned.

'Hmm? Oh…no.' Koichi lowered his hand. 'Not really; just a little dizzy.'

'Shouldn't you lie down or something? Or – ' Kousei cut himself off as the other just leaned back in his chair. 'You're sure you're okay?'

'Mmm-hmm,' the other replied, blinking slowly at the ceiling, as though trying to decide something. 'It happens occasionally,' he said after a pregnant pause. 'Dizzy spells, I mean. It would be too much to hope for to do something –' He searched for a word and failed, running over it instead. ' – and come away with nothing.'

Listening to that made Kousei slightly uncomfortable, and not simply because he had missed so much of his elder son's life. But the hospital setting – with people still grumbling and the computer still slowing things down – invited no casual conversation. The only things that ran through his mind were those which had been said in that very room. Head injuries, sicknesses, computer viruses, equipment failure –

The thought struck him suddenly, and his heart skipped a beat. 'Seven weeks ago was when you –' he began.

The other's eyes froze mid-blink.

'You weren't – were you?' Kousei didn't know why his voice was shaking. His son was in no danger now, after all. But somehow, the idea of such a close shave made even finer chilled his blood.

'I don't know,' Koichi said, after a brief pause and sounding much the same as his father felt. 'I suppose Koji would.'

Kousei wondered if he wanted to ask his younger son. Whether he _could_.

'Though Koji would say "no" either way,' Koichi said. Which was the truth, but did nothing to abate either of their new worries – or the old as the Doctor, some hours late, finally called Koichi for his appointment.


	2. Matrix

**A/N:** Woot, we're on a roll here. :D Four "chapters" in and stuff's happening – and not happening.

Also, I've fixed up the typo in the first drabble. Thanks 10th!

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 2: Matrix**

He would wind up with the wrong sort of bug, JP thought idly to himself as his heavy head weighed down all inspiration. Though he supposed it was some sort of karma for going out late at night trying to catch the night-critters – but he had hoped, having once been a beetle himself, that they would have been more forthcoming.

They hadn't been, and he felt the start of a flu upon waking up the next morning.

That day, his mind was occupied with an arts project. Not one up his forte – he had more of a head for design than precognition – but he always managed to get something presentable once pen was on paper. A lookout of the future…could be anything, he mused to himself, casting his mind around. Maybe a portal to the past, like his father was attempting to create. Or to an alternate world, as some of his father's colleagues sought.

He wondered what such a machine would like, what such a time. But those thoughts – starting with lush green instead of their too bright cities and grey suburbs – quickly turned inward and it was Beetlemon who took the page, Beetlemon as he grew and changed, bright yellow scabs of childhood moulting off and becoming a stronger brown, blue armour slowly becoming dark silver like solid rock.

A thought occurred to him, and he spread a grid over the drawing, measuring with his eyes before comparing to a solid model: himself. Or rather, himself as he had been a few weeks ago, before the fat had become lean muscle in the space of a few minutes. The size was a little bigger, fuller, he mused. He didn't think Digimon grew like humans did, with those subtle changes, but somehow it seemed to fit.

He figured it was fine. Beetlemon not as he had left him those weeks ago, but Beetlemon as he had changed in his mind. A future Beetlemon, who had learnt to grow like a human and become an adult from a child – for they had been children, in the end. It still hurt thinking how close they'd come to losing Koichi. How close they'd come to losing the world.

His mother came in later and saw the finished picture, and questioned him. 'My future,' was what he said in reply, but his mother said she failed to see the resemblance.

It was as plain as day for him, but his mother knew nothing about the Digital World and JP would rather it remained their – he and the other five legendary warriors…and even the four "Angemon's kids" – secret. Somehow, he didn't want it to spread beyond that, as though it would be snatched away if it were.

As it was, he thought the drawing could be his little hope of returning to the Digital World, to Beetlemon…to _being_ Beetlemon.

Trying to remember the Fractal code, he started writing the binary numbers too soft to see. They were probably wrong anyway, he mused, but somehow it made the image seem more authentic – even if it was barely visible, and by the time his little project was due in even that will have faded. Still, it was personal satisfaction, he told himself, even if it strained his eyes and made his head feel ever heavier.


	3. Burning

**A/N:** _Got Cherubimon in finally. :D And like Light's last one, barely squeezed it under 800 words and far more plot than the other two._

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 3: Burning**

'It is not our world,' Seraphimon said.

Ophanimon did not seem to agree with that, and once Cherubimon would have been thrilled. But, growing up together as they had – with Bokomon and Neemon and the children as their parents – had long since given them new connection. So he focused on their words – words he had in another life ignored, and found he agreed from a tenderness in his heart more than anything else.

'It may not be our world,' he sighed, and both Angels turned their gaze to him, 'but by asking help of the human world we have sped things up nonetheless.'

'The human world was always a part of this.' Ophanimon's beautiful voice sung with sorrow. 'But without our – my – interference they could have lived for generations yet. And even after all they fought and sacrificed for us, where are back where we started with a fragmented world.'

'A reborn world,' Seraphimon said.

'A world reborn incomplete,' Cherubimon corrected. 'And breaking apart more each day. That plane may have crossed into a different Digital plane but trains are passing through our own stations more than the Trailmon do, even though the Gate has been closed.'

'Gates can close,' Ophanimon said quietly, 'but holes are more difficult to fill. This world is being eaten alive – and not just this one. Humans are disappearing from their world. Some are later found roaming in ours. Digimon foreign to our world are appearing and seeing more at ease than our natives. The world is changing – heading towards a change, and we can only control how fast.'

'These things have been happing for a long time,' Seraphimon pointed out, 'and, despite the damage in some parts of the land, other parts still thrive. I know what you say, Ophanimon, but I cannot agree with it.' He did not look at Cherubimon as he spoke.

'The short bone must always be given to someone,' the female said. 'By bringing humans into our world we have accelerated the process, but it will still be dragged over years for them. Years more of disappearances, of electronics failures that have killed. If you recall it almost killed one of our own.'

Cherubimon turned his face away; he remembered that, having been concerned of the human he had both damned and saved. If it hadn't been for Ophanimon's powers, he would have died – all because of an electrical disturbance.

'We knew and we still did it,' Ophanimon continued. 'It was my choice to make and I made it. I do not regret it.' Her eyes were hard as she raised her head, and Seraphimon shrugged a little. He had not disagreed with it. 'But when I see their hopes and dreams burning, knowing they'll never have the time to come to pass in this world…' Her voice trailed off.

'The faster the change occurs, the faster the world can straighten out,' Cherubimon surmised, fingering the two holy rings around his ears. 'If you rip apart a head from its body, the being will ultimately suffer less than if it is eaten alive. I am tired of watching this.'

Seraphimon sighed again. 'I know this,' he said, 'but to drive the world towards destruction does not sit well with me. The end does not justify the means. But I know I am hanging on to this world that is now – if only there was a way to _stop_ this…but then those children and digimon will have died for nothing.'

'Perhaps it is better not to think of it as death,' Ophanimon said. 'Instead, say that they have evolved. It is how they speak of it.'

'You've seen them?' Both males were surprised.

'I have,' Ophanimon nodded. 'It was how I knew my vision to be the truth and not born from foolish hope.'

'So…they have been here.' Seraphimon's expressionless mask showed sorrow. 'These old worlds must have been in a very sorry state.' He paused for a moment, and then added: 'I still cannot accept removing or seal so quick. Despite the other Digidestined, it would be twice as cruel to our own children.'

That was the sad truth; they would have been kinder to have never returned to their old lives.

'They also have their own choices,' Seraphimon finished. 'If nothing else, we must wait for that; we owe it to them.'

Cherubimon left the holy rings on his ears and dropped his paw.


	4. Laughing

**A/N:** _Between us we managed four fics in 24 hours (I think; it's a little hard to tell with the timezones). Just goes to show how excited we are. :D_

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 4: Laughing**

If Takuya ever found which idiot dumped Doggymon on his doorstep, they'd be getting a good frying. As it was, he was going to fry the Doggymon.

It was just as annoying as it had been back in the Trailmon races – and here he had thought Zoe had mellowed him out a bit. But _no_, instead it had blasted chips into the front step, stolen his hat and shattered a window in his mother's car – which Takuya would probably be getting the blame for, considering he was the only one supposed to be home.

Somehow, it didn't occur to him until much later that Doggymon shouldn't even have been _in_ their world, let alone on his front doorstep. And they certainly shouldn't have been engaged in a dangerous game of tag on the streets – because Takuya wasn't as flexible as Doggymon even if luck was still with him.

Behind them, they left a wake of chaos. Traffic lights flickered. Cars swerved. Curses chased them down the road. Takuya continued to run, after the Doggymon weaving through rush-hour traffic as fire burnt on in his heart, and the Doggymon just laughed that _insanely_ frustrating laugh.

Eventually Takuya could run no more, having the endurance of a lowly human being in front of a rookie Digimon. The heat had become a physical heat, creating sweat that stuck his shirt on his chest and sticking his tongue onto the roof of his mouth. If he had his spirit, he decided as he gave in to his aching thighs, he would have caught that annoyance of a Digimon, instead of watching it laugh its head off on the roof of a freshly abandoned noodle cart.

Takuya swore that if someone asked for his soul in exchange for his spirits right then, he would willingly hand it over just for a chance to punch the laughter out of that annoying chaotic beast of a Digimon.


	5. Shadow

**A/N:** _Koji's turn this time. Which means only Zoe and Tommy left…and Bokomon and Neemon perhaps. Light's already started repeating characters…although I don't see Takato anywhere, so we're taking slightly different routes with this. The story's forming quite nicely; this drabble links back to the first one and the previous one – poor JP did not make it in here._

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 5: Shadow**

Ophanimon was supposed to be the one with precognitive ability, or maybe Koichi. He was always sitting down when a dizzy spell came on at least, though that might've been more practise than anything else. And while he could smile about it, Koji always felt a sorrow in his heart. It wasn't fair, after all, that his brother had to live with those dizzy spells for the rest of his life, while for the rest of their sicknesses could come and go.

That sort of damage was sadly irreparable, and while it had been say there was not regret at the beginning, those shadows snuck in in silent weeks. Because when he had been crying over his brother's unmoving body, Koji was sure he didn't care what happened to the two of them so long as they got more time together.

But now that they had the time, he was painfully aware of those scars. And when he started feeling the echoes of his brother's pain, it sunk like a feeling of dread in his heart. Like something was getting worse: not his brother because Koichi was a horrible liar…even if that didn't help in getting the _truth_, but _something_ was getting worse. Something…

He heard about a mangled train on the Shibuya line, coming out of the station as though it had been assaulted with a heavy hammer. He'd heard of the electrical problems the districts constantly experienced, the disappearances over the years, seemingly unrelated to each other except for their trails going cold. He'd heard of a rabid orange dog causing chaos downtown – and Takuya spitting curses on the phone afterward telling of said Doggymon.

Digimon shouldn't be in the human world, and it made him wonder if everything that went wrong with the world wasn't somehow connected. The thought was often accompanied by the ache in his brain, and Koji's thoughts were whisked away on twin theories and predestiny – for it was too much of a coincidence that his brother's head always hurt when it was something to do with the Digital World.

Granted, it had been only one time – or two if you counted the Doggymon incident. Although Koichi didn't seem to remember having a dizzy spell when Takuya opened his door to find the Champion Digimon throwing bombs at it, even if Koji did.


	6. Devour

**A/N:** The noodle cart's sure getting a lot of scenes. I blame Light; it was a total coincidence on my part. :D The first one anyway.

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 6 – Devour**

Zoe felt queasy instead of hungry again, which was a worry considering she was also feeling somewhat light-headed. The high-pitched giggles of her girl-friends didn't help much either, though they were a comfort. In their own way. She supposed.

It would have been rather lonely sitting opposite a noodle cart by herself; the guy who ran the place was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the so-called cosplaying dragon dude. Not that she'd ever seen what really pulled the cart, nor had many other people. Though it mightn't have been a cosplayer, but a real live digimon – seeing as they seemed to catch the occasional whisper of their existence in the real world.

It made her wonder if there were other Digidestined around. Though it didn't seem to matter overly so; her best friends were the people and Digimon she had shared her life-changing adventure with, and other friends were people she could connect with on a more superficial level. Like classmates should be, she supposed, hanging out after school sometimes, going over to each other's houses for birthday parties and not doing much else aside.

'You're looking rather lonely,' a male voice commented suddenly, and Zoe glared at the brunet who plopped down beside her.

'That seat's taken,' she told him flatly.

'Oh, really?' he pretended to look around. 'To one of those girls, maybe?' He was pointing at the noodle cart, where the girls were devouring their meals. She'd moved away from them, the smell not really helping her stomach.

'Wasn't feeling too good,' she muttered, before glaring again and raising her voice. 'My friends are perfectly aware of where I am, and they'll be all over you as soon as they turn around.'

She didn't bother telling him that "all over" meant, quite literally all over, as it would probably be crush at first sight.

'Oh, I don't doubt that.' His perfect row of pearly teeth gleamed. 'Insects love to swarm.'

Zoe raised a brow at that, before wincing a little at the pain that rippled.

'Bug?' the boy asked in amusement, before adding: 'You stick out like a sore thumb, you know.'

The world quietened, as if someone had lowered the volume except for what occurred between them. Her breathing seemed louder; so did his, and it seemed she could even make out the echo of heartbeats.

'Have you considered what it would be like if you had stayed a digimon?' the boy asked. 'If you haven't, you might want to soon. The door'll open soon, and you wouldn't want to miss it – or maybe you would.' He laughed suddenly. 'Oh well, not really my problem. The only one I'm interested in is _her_.'

He slipped off his seat and vanished, and the smell of noodles wafting over from the cart hit her suddenly. She doubled over on the bench she sat on and threw up on the pavement.

She never did get his name.


	7. Confrontation

**A/N:** 799 words. Lol, talk about just keeping it under 800. :D I hope this doesn't ruin any of Light's plans, but I had this planned for a bit. Yay for being evil!

As for the prompt, you'll have to squint a bit, but it's in the beginning.

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 7 - Confrontation**

Yutaka didn't think it was a good idea, but Tommy had been insistent.

'It's Takuya's birthday!' he'd complained, every time the elder Himi tried to convince him to stay home. 'I can't miss it!'

And he really didn't look that sick now. He wasn't going to the bathroom every five minutes, which was an improvement. And their mother had made sure to get plenty of food and fruit smoothies into him over the past few days – which seemed to be the only thing that ever worked in diarrhoea and vomiting. Yutaka had tried to do the usual big brother thing – try to wheedle/force out a possible reason in between keeping Tommy occupied when he was under bed-rest – but the only thing it _could_ have been it seemed was catching the Zoe girl's stomach bug.

Tommy had been up in knots about it; while once he would have lapped up the attention, he acted in this most recent illness as though the very world was coming to an end. Yet another thing that seemed to have changed from the last couple of months, Yutaka reflected, watching Tommy curled up on the seat opposite. While he could now eat a packet of chips without excreting it straight away, his stomach was still rather tender.

But Tommy claimed to be feeling well enough to go to his friend's birthday party, and his parents had already given permission, so there shouldn't have been anything for Yutaka to worry about. After all, people came down with bugs all the time, and they passed within a few days – a week at the most. But, somehow, he was extra worried about this one. Worried enough to escort his brother in a train said brother had gone in several times before.

The train stopped at Shibuya station, and their compartment got a little fuller. When people approached their seats Yutaka got up and sat next to his brother, and a young woman sat in the recently vacated spot.

No-one sat next to her. The train started moving again, and the woman considered Yutaka for a moment, thanked him, and then proceeded to stare at his brother.

'Is that your brother?' she asked finally.

Yutaka looked at Tommy – who had shut his eyes at some point and looked to be dozing, before answering in the affirmative.

'I've always wanted a little brother myself,' the woman said with a smile. 'Some of my friends had them – and I suppose you could say I had surrogate younger siblings as well.'

'Babysitting?' Yutaka asked. He didn't usually carry on random conversations in trains, but that was because no-one really started them.

'Travelling,' the woman replied.' Our…job requires a lot of travelling about: me, my boyfriend, his brother, brother's best friend, _her_ brother, said brother's junior…and a couple of other people. The secret sort of job,' she added, seeing the other's befuddled expression.

Yutaka nodded and went along with it. The woman's matter-of-fact way of speaking unnerved him slightly, but the conversation was engaging enough. 'I suppose you all get close in that sort of environment,' he said.

'More or less,' the woman replied. 'Some more than others; some who've broken away from us, others who are out of our reach. It's been a long time after all.'

Yutaka thought he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes, but then it was gone and replaced with that tender clarity. As though she was any woman looking to get married and have kids, and was fawning over every adorable child she saw.

Something told Yutaka the woman was very _very_ different.

'I'm Sora,' the woman said, almost absent-mindedly. 'Sora Takenouchi.'

'Yutaka,' Yutaka replied, holding on to his surname.

'Himi,' Sora finished.

Yutaka was taken aback. 'Well…yes,' he said, 'but how did -?'

'Your brother's name is Tommy,' she interrupted, returning to the matter-of-fact voice by which she had listed her attachments. Sounding somewhat mechanical – and downright creepy, Yutaka decided. It didn't help that they were going through a tunnel at that point, and the lights were flicking.

'You worry about your brother,' Sora continued, standing up and putting a hand on the other's forehead, before frowning sadly. 'He's so young. Reminds me of –'

There was a screeching sound and Yutaka missed the next bit. He didn't care anyway, because when he looked at his brother the other's face was grey and his chest barely moving.

He stood himself, but then the lights went off and he was thrown. He thought he saw his brother tumble, and the woman – Sora – grab him, but then they were gone as well.

When he woke up, the lights were back on, the train was moving, and neither Sora nor Tommy were anywhere to be seen. Sora's purse was there though, and he picked it up.


	8. Howl

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay. I might not celebrate Christmas, but that doesn't stop me from getting busy!

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 8: Howl**

Hikaru was playing with something in the backyard. Koji didn't know what, but there wasn't anything to choke on so he wasn't too worried. What Takuya was saying on the other hand…

'So there's a Doggymon loose in the real world?'

'_No_.' Takuya sounded exasperated, but it was hardly anyone else's fault for getting confused when he send the conversation in several different directions at once. 'Ex-Veemon took care of him; I'm telling you there _was_ one.'

Koji sighed. 'My mistake,' he said, though he could have meant past or present with the contraction. 'And other Digidestined?'

'That would explain why no-one was panicking about Lucemon's appearance in the real world,' Koichi spoke up, static clouding his voice part-way and leading Takuya to glare at the phone.

'Geez, all electronics are going downhill.'

Koji might have shared a smile with his brother, if said brother had been physically present and not talking through speaker-phone. 'Don't complain,' was what he said instead. 'At least the phones are working.'

'Uck, don't remind me,' Takuya groaned, remembering how he had tried to call Koji the moment he had gotten home from his little adventure, only to find the phone lines across Shibuya and Shinjuku dead. 'What makes you say Lucemon's appearance didn't cause any panic?' he directed to the phone. 'You weren't – oww!'

Koji pulled his elbow away and glared.

'That wasn't necessary.' Takuya glared right back.

'Apparently it was –' Koji began.

'Guys.' Koichi's sigh sounded a little strange on the phone, but it gave the same effect as it would have had he been there in person, and Koji and Takuya fell silent. Koichi continued: 'They considered it an electrical discharge and that was the end of the matter. It was on the news.'

'The news?' Takuya repeated. 'What twelve year old watches the news?'

'A bored twelve year old who doesn't get many channels to pick from,' was Koichi's dry response – just beating his twin, who had been formulating a more biting retort.

Koji shut his mouth and shrugged to himself. Takuya could be more careful with how he said things, but if Koichi didn't mind, there wasn't really a reason for him to. 'Are you feeling okay?' he asked instead, scrunching his face slightly.

'This is an odd time.' Koichi sounded amused. 'But I'm fine; why?'

'I think I have a headache,' Koji replied, rubbing his forehead.

In the silence that followed, he realise he _did_ have a headache. And then Hikaru was howling outside, and the static was so loud they couldn't hear what Koichi was saying in reply. Koji put his head in his lap, and Takuya stared between the phone and his friend.

'Hey,' he said, concerned. 'Are you okay?'

Koji ignored the question. 'What in the world is Hikaru howling at?'

Takuya checked.

Apparently, Hikaru had managed to stumble onto a little white cat who knew how to fight back. And there was a young woman in his backyard too – his brother's kindergarden teacher if he wasn't mistaken – apologising and gently scratching at the scratch on the dog's belly.

'I'm very sorry,' the woman said, as she caught sight of him. 'I'm afraid Gatomon doesn't like being chased by dogs.'

'Err – ' Takuya began, before shaking himself. 'That's a digimon, right?'

'I should think I am,' the cat sniffed, before blinking. 'You're –'

' – the one Davis told us about,' the woman finished, before blinking as Hikaru tore past her and towards the door where Koji was now standing.

'Your headache's better?' Takuya asked.

Koji glared, before looking questioningly at their two…guests.

'I gather he's your friend then?' the woman asked, looking at Koji.

'Yeah,' Koji replied. 'You are..?'

'Oh, I'm sorry.' She bowed hurriedly, without losing the politeness and grace that came with her adulthood. 'I'm Kari. Kari Kamiya.'

Takuya nodded to himself. This _was_ Shinya's kindergarden teacher.


	9. Chimeric

**A/N:** This one contains spoilers for Preceeding Overwrite, so if you ever plan to read it, you might want to read it first. :D Addressing Kari's side of the tale – since I couldn't think of any other early-stage way to pop in "Chimeric". Not _quite_ what I had in mind – but at least I got half of what I wanted to in. :D The surprise guest will just have to wait a bit.

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 9: Chimeric**

Davis had told Kari all about the new Digidestined he had met, and it had unnerved her.

Somehow the idea of _becoming_ Digimon was just…wrong. Merging with them, like the "biomerge" that Takato had told about. Physically becoming them, like the "spirit evolution".

She'd never told Davis the truth of what happened. She'd never told him how she saw them, sometimes. How she went back, sometimes, on her own. How she saw them, looking so much like their old friends and family one moment, before twisting into something beastly the next. 'A new level,' they said. 'Perfection.' She saw them more like chimeras: the twisted results of meddling with things that shouldn't have been meddled with. Human lives seized by a virus and torn apart and distorted so that they believed they were better off the way they now were – _whatever_ they were. If only she could have found Ken on one of her excursions – or if only Gatomon could find her old friend. But no, it was only the evil of the past that returned, like that Devimon that wore the mask of their dear Patamon. Like the Piedmon that had killed Ken.

Kari never told any of it to Davis; all she'd said was that they could no longer go to the Digital World, and he had believed her. Oh, he knew there was more to the story; so did Willis, but neither of them pushed her. She had given Ken's pendant to Davis too, so he would be safe. Safe like Ken should have been – but if Ken hadn't been killed, she would have watched Davis succumb as well.

She shook her head, eyes stinging with unshed tears. It had been years ago, and they had lost more friends over the years. Friends they barely knew, had fought with only twice: during their trip around the world, and again against MaloMyotismon. There were a few glitches too – though that was more Willis bringing it to her attention. People disappearing for a few months before reappearing several days before their disappearance. She wondered if it was Gennai's doing – or more of the Chimera-like Digidestineds/partners – except she'd only seen them in the Digital World, and only for short periods of time. She felt the effects for longer though; she'd developed a sort of second-sight for them.

But the new Digidestined were another matter. Davis hadn't thought anything unusual about them; in fact, he seemed to find kindred spirits in the pair. It had seemed the one called "Takuya" had a headache though – but when she and Gatomon had gone to find them (since Davis had dropped the two boys home, she knew where they lived) they'd caught the attention of a dog in a backyard.

Rather, Gatomon's tail had caught his attention, and Gatomon wasn't too happy at a paw swiping at her tail, and jumped the fence to strike back. It was, perhaps, a stroke of fortune that the boy they'd been going to visit had been visiting the dog's owner himself – and showed no traces of the headache he'd been nursing before. Instead, it was the dog's owner who had the headache. Another one of those Digidestined who did spirit evolution. Those legendary warriors.

And now that she had found two of these legendary warriors, she had no idea what to tell them. Or if she should tell them anything at all – or just help them find a way to protect themselves.


	10. Glitch

**A/N:** Some timeline info. The scene with Kari, Takuya and Koji takes place before Tommy…disappears. In the order of days. That means there's still a scene or two missing to explain how much Kari's been able to tell – but the prompt didn't suit it so I'm back to Yutaka. :D

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 10: Glitch**

Yutaka had found a number in the purse, and tried calling it. It seemed like an ordinary enough number, and he didn't think anything_ would_ be unusual about it…until the operator told him it would cost thirteen ice-cream cones for the next four seconds.

When he'd gotten his head back on straight, hung up the phone and done the mental arithmetic, he'd decided that phone call would have been ridiculously high-priced – and, if he had been younger and more open-minded, out if this world. He'd also decided that either the number or telephone operations had a glitch somewhere, since ice cream didn't qualify as currency _anywhere_.

He called his brother's cell instead – which rang in his back pocket. Then his friends, because Tommy might have found himself in the station, like a lot of stray passengers, and simply headed over to one of their houses. Like Takuya's, where they had been planning on going. Or JP's because it was closer. After all, trying to find someone in any station was a tall order; he might've headed off and then forgotten to call.

But it was rapidly diminishing as a possibility as JP failed to pick up and Takuya said he hadn't seen anyone. He also added that there wouldn't be much of a party; as welcome as everyone would be, it seemed that only half their group was in good health. Takuya did emphasise though that there was something he needed to talk to Tommy about, so if he could call, if not come, that would be greatly appreciated.

Yutaka found himself saying he didn't _know_ where Tommy was – which got the other's attention.

'You mean he's missing?!'

Yutaka told what had happened on the train. Takuya covered the phone and muttered to somebody on the other end, then uncovered it again. 'Shinya hasn't seen him either.' There was a pause, then he added: 'I'll call Koji. Zoe's parents are taking her to the hospital, so there's no point ringing her.'

Yutaka thanked him and hung up, looking for the number of the last of Tommy's friends in his brother's phone. It was a land-line number, he noted: a problem if the boy wasn't at home – but he was, luckily.

Though he hadn't seen him either.

'He might be stuck on the train,' Koichi, quite ironically in Yutaka's opinion, said. 'There's something blocking all the trains.'

Which is why he'd had to wait for his mother to drive him instead of taking one.

'He _was_ on the train,' Yutaka explained, covering his ears as a loud burst of static screamed from the station's intercom. 'With me. He's not now.'

He explained the rest of the story, to which Koichi was as baffled as Takuya was.

'You think that woman had something to do with it?' he asked tentatively.

'Who else could have taken him? He was practically unconscious – ' Yutaka's voice shook a bit.

'Calm down,' the other said, sounding a tad panicked himself, though he returned to his calm tone thereafter. 'You said this woman had a number you couldn't call?'

'I wouldn't say I _couldn't_,' Yutaka said, but he gave the number when it was requested. Maybe it was the phone company acting up, he thought, but evidentially Koichi hadn't thought so, as he asked Yutaka to stay on the line as he went to get something.

He was back in a moment and tapping something into – something. A computer? Yutaka guessed – but then the other cried out in surprise and dropped the something. Smaller than a computer, because it made a minute clatter on a tiled floor.

'Virus?'

Koichi sounded like he was talking – or reading – to himself at this point, and Yutaka could make neither head nor tail of it. What did a virus have to do with anything, after all? Unless…

'Tommy's virus, you mean?'

'No…' The boy still sounded distant, and Yutaka wasn't sure if the "no" was addressed to him or not. 'The number…you gave… It just says…virus…'

That made absolutely no sense to Yutaka, but he couldn't help but think it was someone's sick idea of a joke. 'I'm telling the police about Tommy,' he said resolutely. _This is getting nowhere. _The crowds had finally begun thinning, and he could see a pair of blue-uniformed men talking and writing on a pad in the corner.

'I don't think – ' Koichi began, now sounding more focused, but before he could finish whatever he was going to say, a screech of static interrupted the call and Yutaka was left listening to the dial-tone.


	11. Recipe

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay; I wrote an entire scene about Kari, Davis and Takuya, then decided to scrape it because it would probably crop up again anyway. So I used the prompt to return to Tommy instead. And pushed the wordcount.

Have a happy new year, and enjoy. :D

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 11: Recipe**

Tommy felt cool hands that grounded him, then hot hands then burnt, then cool hands soothing his brow like a mother would, and it confused him. Someone was singing too, he thought. Singling loudly, though it seemed his head was stuffed to the brim with fog and static and he could barely make out the works.

But it was relaxing, and soothing – although the static sometimes shrieked and hurt, just like the hands suddenly became as hot as fire and burnt – but on the whole it was calming, and he let himself fall asleep.

When he awoke again, the singing was gentler and over a cooking pot, and its smell was wafting over and making his stomach growl.

The woman bent over the pot heard him and smiled with relief. 'Easy there,' she called. 'You'll still need a bit of time to get used to the transition.'

_Transition?_ Tommy wondered, before realising he was in a cave, instead of a train where he'd last been.

'Nice place?' the woman asked, though not lightly. In fact, she seemed rather sombre in all, something that made her look old and worn and sad. Like a nurse who'd had to see too many ill patients…or something like that. 'I'm afraid it's not much, but it's best to be out of the way of…everything else.'

Tommy sat up, taking the cave in. 'Who are you?' he asked. 'Are you a friend of my brother's? Where are we? What happened to the train?'

'My name is Sora,' the woman replied. 'I am…acquainted with your brother, I suppose. The train ran into something on the tracks. I don't know what, but it's caused a panic. We're in the Digital World – your Digital World actually, because you're more familiar with it.'

'More familiar?' Tommy didn't get what that had to do with anything.

The woman spooned out a bowl of broth and handed it to him. 'My mother's recipe,' she said. 'It's always good for a pick-me-up – you're feeling okay now, right?'

Tommy blinked, realising he didn't feel nearly as sick as he had before. In fact, that sickness just seemed like an echo in his chest. 'Y-yeah.'

She smiled, though she still seemed sad about something. 'Eat up,' she advised. 'Then we'll see how you're doing.'

He ate. Then she instructed him to walk about; he did, feeling for some reason small. She watched him thoughtfully.

'Can you fly?' she asked, abruptly.

'Fly?' Tommy repeated, confused.

Sora rephrased the question. 'Can any of your Digimon forms fly?'

Tommy shook his head; as much as he wished he could sometimes, that was a no go.

'Any special sort of movement?' she asked. 'Good at jumping? Wheels?'

'Skiing I suppose.' Though Tommy didn't see why it was relevant, considering he couldn't become Kumamon any more.

'Try it then,' she ordered, pointing at the snowy slope just beyond the cave.

'In my shoes?' Tommy all but squeaked.

'It might help if you took them off.'

Tommy shook his head; that sounded even worse, walking across snow in socks or his bare feet – or worse, sliding down it. But she pressed the matter, pointing out the fire roaring in their cave would feed off any cold he likely wouldn't catch, and he tried it, finding, to his surprise, he'd managed to sprout a pair of skies the moment his first foot touched a decent patch of snow.

Sora flew down to meet him at the end of the slope. Literally flew, and Tommy's head was buzzing because he didn't understand what was going on. 'Haven't you guessed?' the woman asked, flapping her wings to keep hovering.

Tommy looked at himself. He didn't look like Kumamon at all – or feel like him. But he was starting to feel less like _Tommy_ too.

'You're both,' Sora said, in reply to his befuddled question. 'And neither. It's like combining the human and digimon parts and then evolving: something that surpasses both human and digimon and ascends their limitations. We call them Saints: the higher beings that live on in a dying world. _Ascendant_ Saints.'

The way she spoke though, she didn't sound much as though she agreed with her own words. And Tommy felt cold, because it sounded an awful lot like he'd never be what he'd just been again – he'd never see his parents, his friends, his brother…but…

'The others?' He shivered a bit. 'What will happen to the others?'

'That depends,' she said quietly, 'on a great many things.'

Just like part of his fate had depended on her – choosing whether to touch that _thing_ that burnt to save him, or to help him change. Choosing what information to give, what point of view. What hope…and what despair.


	12. Visit

**A/N:** Another rewrite, and jumping back in time. To clear up any possible confusion, the "she" in this chapter is Kari, and this takes place after the drabble that has her in Koji's backyard.

Updates will be somewhat slower for a while. Right now I'm busy with other challenges, work, and packing. Next month I'm starting my Masters degree, so I'm not sure how my timetable's going to be looking there. RL strikes, right. :D But with Light's help, I should still have relatively solid updates.

Enjoy Kari's return.

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 12: Visit**

She hadn't managed to figure out what to say, and then, suddenly, she didn't have to. The scene just fell apart into chaos, and the end result was her sobbing against the rough scratching bark of a familiar park tree. The picnic tree, they'd called it, because in the old days they'd always have a picnic underneath it. She'd even had a picnic there in her dream: that dream that MaloMyotismon had twisted and used against her.

But in the lonely years that followed their deaths it was a place of solitude; it was only Davis who'd visit her there, and Gatomon who came along with her. Even those ghosts that refused to settle didn't come – but that didn't stop them haunting her in other places.

Like a teen that looked like TK, but a couple of years older, playing under her window with his Patamon – or Tsukaimon,as it sometimes appeared in the darkness. So like Patamon, but purple instead orange; yellow instead of green. A fighter instead of a mellow companion that preferred rides on hats than hard-fisted brawls, and they'd yell and scream and somehow no-one would hear them but her.

Or, sometimes, a woman with orange hair on a train, silent and sad. Or someone playing music that sounded terribly like Matt – or an internet ID that was eerily clever, reminding her of both Izzy and someone else – someone who's name she remembered. Or a teen with long purple hair in the shops, trying to decide between three different flavours of chips and two different flavours of biscuits.

And then there was her brother – or the ghost of her brother, appearing everywhere and anywhere and stopping her breath every time. In her room the instant her four walls lulled her into security and peace. On the soccer field when she watched the last of her teammates live, disappearing before Davis could even turn. On the streets randomly…and all different ages: five, fifteen, twenty-something… Sometimes with Agumon, sometimes with another covered in black, sometimes on his own.

That time it had been BlackAgumon, and the miasma clashed with Gatomon's ring she still wore. The mix of that, the uprooting she still could not overcome, and the weakness against darkness it seemed she could never defeat. It was enough to reduce her to a little child quaking under the bed, and all she'd seen before she'd fled were her the lips of her brother's ghost moving and causing the leaves overhead to rustle.

Gatomon had taken a bit to follow after her, sprouting some fresh claw marks that showed how solid the twisted ghost of her brother's partner was, and that just terrified her even more.

Her hands pricked and stung and she didn't sleep that night, and it was only when the sun slipped through her thin white curtains could she tell herself the ghosts wouldn't be coming back for a while. And it was when she could look into the mirror and see herself, fully grown, that she could remember she was an adult and a protector, rather than just a child and a protected.

But when she tried to get back to that house,_ he_ was still in the shadows, waiting, and she sensed him before she could approach.


	13. Preparation

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay; I missed the PM for this during the whole FF fiasco – plus some challenges that were due in before this (and after). And still waiting on a letter that's driving me crazy…

Back to Tommy's disappearance with another Koichi scene. Enjoy. :D

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 13: Preparation**

When Yutaka's panic reached Koichi's ears, the elder twin had to steel himself against what might come. Because, while Koichi didn't know Yutaka _that_ well, he knew the other to be calm and rational and the last person one would expect to overreact, even concerning his younger brother. Yutaka claimed it was because Tommy used to be a spoilt brat – which none of the Legendary Warriors, least of all Koichi, could really attest to. But Yutaka wouldn't panic if Tommy was an hour or so late going home, or forgot to tell his family his plans, or vanished into the crowd in a shopping complex. But Yutaka was panicking now, which meant something serious had happened.

When Yutaka explained Tommy had vanished _right from his arms_ – well, Koichi had a hard time not panicking himself. But that wouldn't do anyone any good, so he thought. And asked for the number Yutaka said didn't seem to exist in their world, because one thing that could cause crazy stuff to happen was the Digital World.

He tried the number on his D-tector; if it was a Digivice number, it should work. Or that's what he guessed, but instead, the screen spat out one word. "Virus." And then it spat a bunch of static that made him drop his D-tector.

'Virus?' he said to himself, reaching for the device again.

Yutaka said something on the other end, to which he replied. Most of him was occupied though, worried about how Tommy had disappeared, so close to where the others had gone through to the Digital World before. And he wondered about that woman that seemed to have unnerved Yutaka, and why the number in her purse had given such results.

But then the phone suddenly disconnected and the street-lights outside flashed on and off, and he dropped his D-tector again as it threw more static into the air.

A shadow fell over it when he reached for it again, and he shrieked and stumbled back, dropping the phone. Because he was the only one home. Because the sun was sending his own shadow the other way. Because there wasn't any_thing_ near enough to cast a shadow and certainly not so suddenly. Because there must be someone else there – someone who'd gotten in without him noticing at all.


	14. Virus

**A/N: **Funny how the first prompt was "illness" and this one "virus". For an easy prompt, it sure wasn't easy to do. Next to zero plot with this – but Zoe and JP were getting somewhat abandoned, so I thought it was time for a repeat performance from at least one of them. Enjoy. :D

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 14: Virus**

If Zoe hadn't already thrown up in the car, she would have at the waiting room's antiseptic smell. _Honestly_, she grumbled to herself, _they could do something about the patients who come to them with weak stomachs_.

Except she didn't have anything left in her stomach to throw up, and she was stuck curled into a miserable ball by her father's side.

Being sick sucked; worse was waiting for a Doctor and being surrounded by other sick people – though she'd learnt the hard way that healthy people didn't make much better company. Like when she'd gone out with her friends and the smell of ramen, something she usually loved, managed to make her lose her breakfast on the sidewalk. Her friends had dropped her straight home, and she'd stayed there for a few days afterwards until she was throwing up even water and no antibacterial or antiviral was helping her.

They'd thought it was a virus that'd go away with time, but it hadn't, and finally her parents brought her to a Doctor. By that point, Zoe was feeling too weak to complain about the trip; her father had practically carried her in, and she seemed incapable of holding herself upright in the chair. Her mother was talking with the receptionist – and possibly muttering at the slow service under her breath. But a stomach bug wasn't emergency enough for the emergency room, and Zoe was awake enough to be relieved she _wasn't_ in a hospital waiting room. She'd been not too long ago, after Koichi's trip at Shibuya Station, and that was more than enough.

She wondered if she'd run into Tommy in the waiting room; it certainly seemed like there was enough of a line – but no, she thought. He might be heading to Takuya's; his mother said he was feeling a little better, when she'd called Zoe's mother. She wished she was too, but there wouldn't be much point. The birthday cake would probably set her off – not to mention the longer car ride. And, with her luck, she'd spread whatever bug she'd caught to her other friends – though her girl-friends had gotten away scot free, so they might not. But Tommy had come to visit her, and then gotten sick, so it was a definite possibility. Her mother had warned Koji and Takuya away the next day.

She felt guilty about that, but couldn't spend too long moping – even with all the time in the world. A sad stomach was the worst of her troubles, but the lethargy that dragged her was troublesome. She felt like a bird whose wings were covered in cobwebs, a bird unable to fight and forced to drag its belly on the ground with the near-useless weight. And then there was the annoying buzz behind her eyes and ears, the one that had made her throw up in the car, and sometimes at home when there's nothing else to trigger it.

It was only because her stomach had long since been empty that she didn't throw up now – though, she thought morbidly, if the smell was any stronger she'd probably be dry-retching. And with that thought, she was back to thought number one and groggily grumbling to herself about the smell of the Doctor's waiting room.


	15. Lightless

**A/N**: Sorry for taking so long guys! Some of you may know I'm doing my masters interstate, so I had a ton of paperwork, moving, more paperwork and enrolment stuff to do before uni started on Friday. There's still some left, but less and more manageable now since uni's started and we've got lectures starting on Monday to think about as well. So updates definitely won't be daily again for a while, but hopefully won't take so long again.

* * *

**Concurring Overwrite  
Data Fragment 15: Lightless**

'I'm starting to think men simply aren't meant to cross dimensions,' Jim Kido groaned, throwing down his notes in frustration, 'except that would mean I'm related to an alien.'

'That's not a bad theory,' Professor Takenouchi mumbled, only half-listening as he scrolled through journal article after journal article on the computer. 'But we'll work on that later; what's wrong with machine?'

It had been working just a few days ago. Or not "working" per say, since they hadn't seen any interdimensional holes open up in space, but they had been able to provide power to all aspects of it. They'd tested that by stringing light bulbs across and connecting them at various points: a full circuit would light them all up, and an incomplete circuit would light up some to none.

They'd gotten the full circuit before, but now they were at square zero. If the machine couldn't access its power source, then they had no way to experiment with different energies.

'And here I was, thinking we'd actually get a chance to find the universe's frequency,' Doctor Shibayama said, though he was a little more optimistic than the other two. He was slightly less invested as well, being the engineer who did the building and maintenance as opposed to the guys trying to figure out answers to unknown questions with it. 'Let's see what's wrong with this baby.'

He poked and prodded with his tools and tangled wires up but found nothing. 'Is the power even connected?' he called out, voice echoing a little in the cylinder.

'Sure it's connected,' Jim said, 'The Professor's laptop – ' Then he remembered that laptops had battery life, and the Professor had downloaded those papers beforehand. So he checked: flipped the switch, and found it stayed off.

'The sun's a wonderful source of energy,' Professor Takenouchi mused. 'In fact, Ra – '

But his coworkers didn't get to hear the story about Ra, because the sunlight simply vanished, and they were left with only the dim light of the Professor's laptop.

Mr Shibayama cursed when he hit his head inside the machine, trying to get out. The Professor on the other hand was speculatively curious. 'Well,' he said finally, after peering unsuccessfully into the sky. 'There are several possibilities.'

'What are they, Professor?' asked Jim, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

'Either the night has snuck up upon us while we were engrossed in work – ' which, while likely for him, was not so for the other two, ' – the sun has been suddenly hidden behind thick clouds – ' which was possible, but they'd expect a rainstorm with clouds _that_ black, and it was silent, ' – or the sun has been separated from our plane.'

Which honestly wasn't more likely than the other two, but aside from Mr Shibayama, they'd seem some pretty strange stuff. They were related to Digidestined after all. And Mr Shibayama was as well, though he was yet to know of it.

What was more important was the sudden lack of sunlight. Which meant the temperature would drop – drastically, if it'd vanished off the face of the earth. And they humans were too fragile to survive such dramatics.

'It'll pass any time,' Jim whispered nervously. 'And nothing happened even though we had no sun during the whole Dark Masters incident. It'll be fine. It'll be fine.'

'Or it could be the D-reaper incident all over again,' Professor Takenouchi said, attention finally full on something other than his notes.


End file.
